Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, Florida. (Image from Google Maps)
Jessica Norton, a Broward County school employee and mother to a transgender daughter, was suspended from her job at Monarch High School — where her daughter also attended school — in Broward County for violating the state’s anti-LGBTQ+ Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.
Norton was suspended without pay for 10 days on July 30, ending the lengthy investigation into the school and family. The school board also stated Norton must be moved from her job as a computer information specialist to a different job that does not manage or handle student information.
The decision follows an investigation into a transgender teen playing on Monarch High School’s girls varsity volleyball team. The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act prohibits transgender girls and women from participating in public school sports teams that align with their gender identity.
Norton and her husband brought a lawsuit against the school district and the Florida High School Athletic Association to challenge the act she was suspended for allegedly violating in 2021. The law specifically only applies to schools, not individuals. Monarch High School was fined $16,500 in December 2023.
“There is no way around it, I’m being punished because I am the parent of a transgender student. While I can finally breathe a sigh of relief that this 239 day investigation is finally over, ending the constant scrutiny and allowing me to keep my job, I am still frustrated with the decision the school board made today,” Jessica Norton said in a statement. “Every action I took to support my daughter was as her parent, not as an employee of Monarch High School—it was never my decision whether my daughter played volleyball.”
Broward School Board Member Daniel Foganholi had received an “anonymous tip” about a transgender student playing sports at Monarch. The student in question was Norton’s then 16-year-old daughter.
The school board, superintendent and senior district leadership were aware of Norton’s daughter playing volleyball at school despite the act, however “she is the only employee, despite having no responsibility for setting or maintaining policy regarding athletics, who is being punished,” according to a press release from the Human Rights Campaign.
“The board’s decision today continues to hold Mrs. Norton responsible for actions she was justified in taking as a parent. There is no question that throughout the course of this investigation, the Broward County School District has not only abdicated its responsibility to the safety and wellbeing of Mrs. Norton’s daughter but has retaliated against an employee simply for advocating for their child,” Human Rights Campaign Litigation Strategist Jason Starr said.
“The LGBTQ+ inclusive policies that had become a foundational part of the culture of Broward County Schools have been completely abandoned — LGBTQ+ students and families are not safe in this school district and their treatment of the Norton’s have made that clear,” he continued. “The Human Rights Campaign will continue to support this family and fight on their behalf.”
Norton pulled her daughter from Monarch High School, and she now attends an online Broward County school. Norton said the decision was made to protect her after she was outed via the investigation.
“The senior leaders of the District should be embarrassed that they’re in charge of the lives of children seeing as they had no problem destroying the life of mine,” Norton said during a Broward County school board meeting in June. “But you know what, it’s okay if I’m the villain in their story because I am the hero in my daughter’s story.”
